Chopin Booklet 95210 by Klassiek.nl

95210

CHOPIN

BALLADES IMPROMPTUS PRELUDES OP.28

Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) Ballades · Impromptus · Preludes Op.28 Chopin’s four Ballades, although composed over a period of several years and published separately (and thus not created as a set in conventional terms) nevertheless show a unity of design and conception. Although Chopin may have begun work on the G minor Ballade (together with the B minor Scherzo) during his period in Vienna between November 1830 and July 1831, he completed both works in Paris, between 1833 and 1835, and each reveals an engagement with larger scale and more complex construction than he had previously attempted in his works for solo piano. Chopin was the first to apply the literary term “ballad” to a purely instrumental work (although Schubert and Loewe had written musical settings of the ballad form) thus creating a new genre in which he was to be followed by Brahms, Grieg and Faure among others. Chopin and his music are frequently associated with poetry, - “he is an elegiac, profound, dreamy poet of tones” in the words of a contemporary reviewer and so it is not surprising that, like many of his generation, he should turn to poetry for inspiration, specifically that of his compatriot Adam Mickiewicz, who according to Schumann had a profound influence on the composition of the Ballades. Much critical energy has been expended in attempts to discern a specific Mickiewicz poem beneath each of the Ballades (the consensus being to associate Konrad Wallenrod with the first, Switzek the second, Undine or Switzekiana the third and Trzech Budrysów [Three Brothers] the fourth). While Chopin did occasionally disclose various extra-musical elements within certain his works to his students (although perhaps only to assist their interpretations) there is no evidence that he intended the Ballades as programmatic pieces: rather they are attempts to embody in music, not least through use of its characteristic 6/8 metre, the essence of the literary ballad which Mickiewicz described as “animated by the strangeness of the Romantic world, sung in a melancholy tone, in a serious style, simple and natural in its expressions”. While the Ballades display some structural similarity to sonata-allegro form - two or more distinct, sometimes strongly contrasting, themes/motifs which undergo “development” or more accurately 2

transformation/variation, often involving heightening of the emotional register, before a restatement and a concluding “coda” - it is perhaps better to think in terms of a narrative dialogue between two voices sometimes in opposition sometimes in harmony, the poetry woven into than imposed upon or lying behind the music. The G Minor Ballade opens with a short recitative which ends unsettlingly on a chord of D-G-E flat (the first German edition had a more conventional upper D) which introduces two themes, the first essentially a waltz, the second a lyrical theme in E flat, which are restated in A minor and A major respectively. What at first appears to be a brilliant coda turns out to be a new motif which reintroduces the original themes in reverse order – the second in appassionato mode, the first in its sober original form. The actual “coda” features a surprise ending where muted chords appear to signal closure but instead introduce a stark octave statement derived from the first theme before a chromatic treble-forte octave cascade finally ushers in the end. Chopin completed the F major Ballade during the winter months 1838/9 while in Mallorca with George Sand but had been working on it since 1836 when he played an early version to Schumann during a visit to Leipzig in September of that year. According to Schumann, the work as he heard it on that occasion lacked its ”impassioned episodes” - presumably the presto con fuoco section - and ended in F minor rather than A minor. The poet and dramatist Felicien Mallefile (whom Chopin was to usurp in the affections of George Sands) described hearing Chopin play a “ballade polonaise” at a gathering in 1838, possibly the F major Ballade before it achieved its final form or perhaps the G minor one, which had been published in 1836. The nostalgic mood conjured up by the lilting siciliano first theme, which recalls the Ballade de Raimbaut “Jadis régnait en Normandie” from Act 1 of Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable, is abruptly shattered by the dramatic intrusion of the second. Schumann’s comment suggests (although does necessarily prove) that the original second theme contained less obviously contrasting material and it is tempting to speculate that the presto con fuoco section (with its recollection of the Etude Op.25 3

No.11 – “ Winter Wind”) had its genesis during the brief period in which Chopin lodged in a Mallorcan villa called the House of Winds (which apparently lived up to its name). The two themes are reprised with the first assuming the hectic aspect of the second before an agitato coda reintroduces the first theme in the foreign key of A minor. The work was dedicated to Schumann to whom it apparently gave greater joy than any official honour. The A flat major Ballade of 1841, perhaps the most complex of the four, is built up from subtly differentiated thematic material treated in quasivariation form. The lyrical first theme embodies syncopated material whose rhythms are developed in the second - a barcarolle introduced by rocking octaves which derive from a tiny detail of the preceding material. A waltz-like motif is introduced which reappears towards the end after all the thematic material has been interwoven in a dazzling pattern of sound. The F minor Ballade of 1842 is similar in structure to the first, with introductory material leading into the first theme which recalls the F minor Nouvelle Etude No.1. After a lengthy series of variations on this theme which take up almost one third of the work, a second chord-based motif in B flat eventually appears. A short passage in which new material dominates – although not in itself comprising a third theme – is followed by the return the original themes prefaced unusually by an elaboration the introduction before five measured chords usher in a hectic coda The term impromptu to describe a short character work in ternary form and of a quasi-improvisatory nature was first used by Vorˇíšek and Marschner in connection with works published in 1822 and was later applied by Schubert (or more probably his publisher) to his two collections (D899 and D935) of 1827. The first of Chopin’s impromptus in order of publication but not composition was the A major (1837) whose outer sections feature an effervescent, free-running arabesque enclosing a nocturne-like central passage in the relative minor key of F, with the work ending on hushed chords. The deceptively simple nature of the piece did not charm a contemporary reviewer who wrote: “at the end of the fifth page, Mr. Chopin is still seeking an idea… he ends at the bottom of the 9th page, [having failed to find one] 4

by slapping down a dozen chords. Voilà l’Impromptu’. He could not have made a similar complaint of the F sharp major which abounds in ideas. The simple first theme is transformed into a chorale–like melody which morphs into a D major march, pianissimo at first then swelling heroically before suddenly dying away. Two uncanny bars of modulation reintroduce the opening theme first in the unexpected F major before it slips imperceptibly into the home key. The triplet figuration is suddenly accelerated into brilliant demisemiquaver passagework which hangs suspended before a piano restatement of the chorale, with abrupt double forte chords providing a final surprise. The G flat major Impromptu of 1842 is more straightforward in construction with a flowing triplet melody embracing a darker E flat minor inner section. The earliest of the impromptus in order of creation is the C sharp minor work, written in 1834 but never published in Chopin’s lifetime. The reason for this was perhaps an awareness of its debt to Moscheles’ Impromptu in E flat Op 69 or possibly because Baronesse d’Este, for whom it was composed wished it to remain her private property. It was published posthumously by his friend Julian Fontana who added the word Fantaisie to the title (although it is no way resembles Chopin’s other fantaisies) and has become one of the best known of Chopin’s works (at least as far as its central section is concerned). Hectic running semiquavers over arpeggio sextuplets, marked allegro agitato at the opening and recalling the final movement of the Moonlight Sonata (also quoted briefly in the coda) contrast with the dreamy melody of the cantabile middle section. In 1917 Joseph McCarthy set lyrics to this to create the song “I’m always chasing rainbows” which entered the popular imagination with Judy Garland’s memorable and tear-jerking rendition in the 1941 film Ziegfeld Girl. On its return, the first theme is marked presto (so there should be a perceptible tempo change at this point) with the “rainbow” melody making a sotto voce reappearance in the bass shortly before the conclusion. When Chopin set out for Mallorca in October 1838, he took with him several unfinished works including a set of preludes on which he had been working for 5

several years. His stay on the island over the autumn and winter of 1838/9 served a double purpose - he and George Sand had become lovers a few months previously and he thought it best for them to withdraw from the censorious gaze of Parisian society for a while - his desire for secrecy extending to their travelling from France separately: in addition his health would no doubt benefit from his spending the winter months in the warmer Mediterranean climate and also, perhaps more pointedly, from his putting a safe distance between himself and Sand’s former lover Mallefile who had threatened to challenge him to a duel. After staying in various unsatisfactory lodgings, the couple ended up in a former Carthusian monastery at Valledemosa, in whose romantic, Gothic surroundings Chopin completed the set of twenty-four preludes on an upright piano which had been sent over from France by his publisher Camille Pleyel. While there is some doubt as to which of the preludes were entirely composed in Mallorca, numbers 6 and 15, whose insistently repeated notes make them the most plausible candidates for the (inauthentic) title of “Raindrop”, were definitely conceived before he arrived on the island and so were not inspired by “the drops of rain which sounded on the sonorous tiles of the monastery” as recorded in Sand’s fanciful account of their composition. As the name suggests, the original function of a prelude was as a short introduction to another longer work, usually in an improvisatory style and with the ancillary purpose of warm-up or tuning exercises for player and instrument. The preludes in Bach’s two volume Wohltempierte Klavier, which set a precedent for a systematic treatment in all twenty-four major and minor keys, were formally complex and designed to complement their succeeding fugues, but by the 19th century, the prelude had become detached from any specific successive piece and the comprehensive sequences by Hummel, Clementi, Czerny, and Moscheles, for example, comprised short independent works of a studied improvisatory nature (i.e. which made the player appear to be improvising), essentially as form without content, which could be played before any piece in any key. Chopin’s Préludes were however “of an order 6

entirely apart” as Liszt commented and raised questions as to their nature and purpose which persist today. Were they conceived as a unity designed to be played and appreciated as an organic whole or are they a series of brilliant but enigmatic miniatures, each sufficient unto itself? Arguments on either sides of this question tend to focus on whether Chopin is essentially a composer of the short form – a musical sprinter as it were - or is able to engage creatively over longer distances (with the Préludes effectively a single work of some forty-minutes duration). Considerations of space prevent either exploration of theories variously linking the architecture of the Préludes to that of Bach’s Wohltempierte Klavier, (the only music other than his own which Chopin took with him to Mallorca) or to a repeated motivic cell or for any detailed individual analysis of the twenty-four pieces, which are arranged according to the circle of fifths alternating a major with its relative minor key ascending in sharps and descending in flats (following Hummel rather than Bach who used a simpler chromatic ascent) allowing them to be played in sequence as is the usual practice today (with Busoni thought to have been the first performer to do so). Chopin himself however never performed them publically in their entirety and in fact never played more than four together in any of his (infrequent) concert appearances: unfortunately no records survive of which of them he did play and in what order. This was of course in line with contemporary custom which favoured the presentation of a diverse range of pieces and when it was not unusual for single movements from sonatas or symphonies to be performed in isolation. Chopin may therefore have simply been deferring to his audience’s expectations in making selections for performance (but of course had he felt strongly about presenting the Préludes en bloc he could have done so). He may indeed have employed them in their original introductory function in tandem with another work, which Liszt hints at in his review of a recital of 1841, and there is a tantalizingly ambiguous manuscript note on a programme for one of Chopin’s final concerts in Scotland in 1848 that may point to his having prefaced the F major Impromptu with a prelude. 7

Whether one views the Préludes holistically as a single musical conception governed by an overarching pattern or as a series of tiny self-contained works, they remain one of the pinnacles of the 19th century piano repertoire, in which Chopin created a new genre for Alkan, Skriabin, Debussy, Rachmaninoff and many others to develop. With the Préludes Chopin was in the words of one modern commentator “a sphinx proposing a riddle that remains unsolved”, dividing opinion as much now as for his contemporaries. Schumann confessed himself baffled by them: for him they were “sketches, embryonic études… ruins, isolated eagle’s pinions, everything confused and wild” and in the light of this ambivalent reaction, it is perhaps fortunate that he did not end up receiving their dedication rather than that of the F major Ballade which he valued so highly. Chopin had intended to dedicate the Préludes to Pleyel who was to issue the French edition but when unspecified difficulties arose – possibly over the 1500-franc fee (a large sum for the time) – he considered transferring it to Schumann instead. Fortunately the problems, whatever they were, soon resolved themselves and Pleyel ended up both as publisher and dedicatee. Liszt’s response on the other hand, although recognizing that the Préludes do not give up their secrets easily, was much more positive: “admirable in their diversity, the working out and skill they contain is only discernible on careful examination. Everything seems newly minted, the product of a spontaneous inspiration. They have the freedom and the fine style (grande allure) that characterizes works of genius”. © David Moncur

Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy is one of the leading pianists of his generation. He graduated with the highest distinction at the University of Music Saar. Since his youth, he has been winning an impressive amount of top-prizes in international piano competitions throughout the world. He performs in renowned concert halls and in international festivals such as the Philharmonic Hall Berlin, Philharmonic Hall St. Peterburg (“White Nights”), Forbidden City Concert Hall Beijing, Old Opera House Frankfurt, Residenz Munich, International Piano Festival Miami, Amiata Piano Festival, Teatro Olimpico Vicenza, Musikfestspiele Saar, Qintai Concert Hall Wuhan, Berlin Festwochen, Opera House Hanoi, “Internationale Musiktage Dom zu Speyer”, Mozartfest Schwetzingen, International Piano Festival Malaysia, Manasterly Palace 9

Kairo, Alexandria Opera House, International Festival Kimito Islands in Finland, International Mozart Festival in Cluj, East-West-Festival in Poland, Opusfest in Manila, International Organ Festival Perm (Russia), International Festival Ribadesella (Spain) and many european Philharmonias e.g. Ljubljana, Poznan, Cluj, Sibiu, Brasov, Timisoara and Kilmore Series in Edmonton (Canada). He has also performed as soloist with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Hungarica, the Philharmonia of the Nations, the RTV Orchestra Slovenia to name just a few. Mr. Schmitt-Leonardy has performed with important ensembles and artists such as the Philharmonia Quartett Berlin, the Melos Quartett, the Rodin Quartett, the Stuttgart Wind Quintett, the Amati Quartett, Ingolf Turban, Dmitri Maslennikov, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Tuncay Yilmaz, Ramon Jaffé, Guido Schiefen, Valérie Aimard, Irena Baar, and others. He has also recorded radio and television broadcasts in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Slovenia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand. His CD‘s with works by Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, Kabalevsky, Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff/Warenberg (world premiere recording) got excellent reviews and highest ratings in leading music magazins like FonoForum, Klassik heute, Piano News (D), American Record Guide (USA), Diapason, Piano le Magazine (F) Muzycka21 (PL), Piano (GB). As a sought after pedagogue he is currently teaching piano as a professor at the prestigous University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, the École Normale de Music de Paris Alfred Cortot, giving masterclasses in Germany (Bayrischer Tonkünstlerverband, Kulturakademie Saarlouis/Deutscher Musikrat), Italy (Amiata Piano Festival), Spain (Barcelona), Austria (Vienna), Russia, China (Beijing), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Thailand (University Bangkok), and writing about the principles of piano technique which will be published by the University of Shanghai. Mr. Schmitt-Leonardy also regularly works as a coach for the Lang Lang Foundation, and developed a project to support young promising musical talents. He gets regularly invited to join the jury of important International Piano Competitions. 10

Also available by Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy

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